Efficient Home Storage Server, Need Calculations for Wattage Consumption

[EChondo]

Estimated specs;

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1BcJ1

 

CPU: AMD A4-5300 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($48.98 @ Outlet PC) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A85X-UP4 ATX FM2 Motherboard  ($111.98 @ SuperBiiz) 

Memory: Mushkin Silverline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($89.54 @ NCIX US) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.99 @ NCIX US) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.99 @ NCIX US) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.99 @ NCIX US) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.99 @ NCIX US) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.99 @ NCIX US) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.99 @ NCIX US) 

Will be adding a RAID card as well.

 

PCPartPicker estimates the wattage to be under 300w, but I have reasons to doubt.

 

This guy(loud video!) has his system around 90w on idle and real time tests the system for 150w.

 

So I would assume a small wattage PSU like this Seasonic 360w should be fine, right?

[Assassin]

why 16gb of memory?

[Vitalius]

Estimated specs;

Will be adding a RAID card as well.

 

PCPartPicker estimates the wattage to be under 300w, but I have reasons to doubt.

 

This guy(loud video!) has his system around 90w on idle and real time tests the system for 150w.

 

So I would assume a small wattage PSU like this Seasonic 360w should be fine, right?

PC Part Picker, IIRC, shows the absolute maximum Wattage the system might pull at any one time.

HDD's pull a considerable amount of wattage to spin up than they do to continue spinning. So under load is not the maximum wattage it would pull. Maximum wattage it would pull would be the moment all the drives spun up.

why 16gb of memory?

It may be hard to believe, but if he uses FreeNAS 8.3.1 with ZFS, that could be very necessary.

[WoodenMarker]

That psu should support starting up 10 hdds just fine.

Why so many 1TB drives?

[CoolBeans]

That psu should support starting up 10 hdds just fine.

Why so many 1TB drives?

RAID 5 or 6 maybe

[Blade of Grass]

The maximum amount of power drawn will be about 300 without a RAID card, 350 with a PCI-e 4x card.

According to eXtreme Power Supply Calculator

[Guest]

Put that in a PSU calculator, at 60% load you're looking at about 100w. 

[Bluejay0]

The wattage should be under 350 so that PSU should be fine.

[WoodenMarker]

RAID 5 or 6 maybe

Raid 6 is a bit much for that many drives. 

Raid 5 with less drives would cost less.

3-4TB drives in raid 1 might be even cheaper.

[EChondo]

It may be hard to believe, but if he uses FreeNAS 8.3.1 with ZFS, that could be very necessary.

That is correct, this build isn't technically mine, it's my father's that he wants to setup so we have a storage server. We have a bastard one right now, just a combination of different generations of hardware and we just want to create a whole new server altogether so we are up to date. Our current server isn't even in a RAID, but we do have backups, so he wants to fix this issue.

 

That psu should support starting up 10 hdds just fine.

Why so many 1TB drives?

I put around 6 drives just as a reference, my father wants around 6 or so drives, but he was thinking 3TB-4TB, probably WD Red drives, or Green.

 

RAID 5 or 6 maybe

My father wants to do a RAID5, but he does not know for sure since he doesn't know how many drives he wants.

 

Raid 6 is a bit much for that many drives. 

Raid 5 with less drives would cost less.

3-4TB drives in raid 1 might be even cheaper.

We were thinking that as well, just going through a planning phase.

 

We are trying to have a power efficient storage server, so as many big drives as possible with the least amount of wattage.

[SteepGnomeKing]

You would be perfectly fine with the 360 watt psu.

 

Maybe even a little much depending on the efficiency curve of that specific psu. Since you aren't going to be anywhere close to 80%+ usage of 360watts on full load.

I can't see you going above 150 watts at all. So if the efficiency is good at 30-50% load than it should be good.

[Vitalius]

Raid 6 is a bit much for that many drives. 

Raid 5 with less drives would cost less.

3-4TB drives in raid 1 might be even cheaper.

This. Especially considering that a 4TB drive is about $160 while a 1TB drive is about $70.

 

Dollar per Terrabyte, the 4TB is always the better choice by quite a bit. 

[Bluejay0]

Do me a favor Chondo, make a build log!

[Vitalius]

That is correct, this build isn't technically mine, it's my father's that he wants to setup so we have a storage server. We have a bastard one right now, just a combination of different generations of hardware and we just want to create a whole new server altogether so we are up to date. Our current server isn't even in a RAID, but we do have backups, so he wants to fix this issue.

 

I put around 6 drives just as a reference, my father wants around 6 or so drives, but he was thinking 3TB-4TB, probably WD Red drives, or Green.

 

My father wants to do a RAID5, but he does not know for sure since he doesn't know how many drives he wants.

 

We were thinking that as well, just going through a planning phase.

 

We are trying to have a power efficient storage server, so as many big drives as possible with the least amount of wattage.

One thing I think you should very seriously consider is PSU efficiency. Unless you are getting a server grade PSU that has high efficiency, but low wattage capacity, I do not think you can get a 360w PSU that has high efficiency. 

80Plus Platinum would be preferred, Gold would at least be the minimum imo. That efficiency will matter in the long term imo.

[EChondo]

One thing I think you should very seriously consider is PSU efficiency. Unless you are getting a server grade PSU that has high efficiency, but low wattage capacity, I do not think you can get a 360w PSU that has high efficiency. 

80Plus Platinum would be preferred, Gold would at least be the minimum imo. That efficiency will matter in the long term imo.

 

Well, we are trying to save money as well! I could go Platinum, but this isn't my money here We will definitely be getting higher capacity hard drives though. 

 

Do me a favor Chondo, make a build log!

 

Good idea, will do! We are using an older case, so it might not be pretty on the inside, but the building will be fun

[Bluejay0]

Well, we are trying to save money as well! I could go Platinum, but this isn't my money here We will definitely be getting higher capacity hard drives though. 

 

 

Good idea, will do! We are using an older case, so it might not be pretty on the inside, but the building will be fun

 

A lot of people care for what's on the inside. (sadly, most women my age aren't like that )

[EChondo]

A lot of people care for what's on the inside. (sadly, most women my age aren't like that )

I think you're hanging out with the wrong women

[Bluejay0]

I think you're hanging out with the wrong women

 

Sadly, ALL women are like that for me... ALL OF THEM :,(

 

 

But in reality I hope to see this to be complete!

[SteepGnomeKing]

80Plus Platinum would be preferred, Gold would at least be the minimum imo. That efficiency will matter in the long term imo.

Well, we are trying to save money as well! I could go Platinum, but this isn't my money here We will definitely be getting higher capacity hard drives though. 

 

I don't know where you live so I don't know the cost of power but the difference between gold and platinum in actual efficiency is +/- 3%. Even bronze to platinum the difference is +/- 10%.

 

So for this low of a power consumption (less than 150 watts) So at 50% load that efficiency difference becomes smaller and smaller 2% (g-p) 5% (b-p). So your really not much better off getting a $30 more PSU for 3% efficiency on such a small load unless you pay a lot for your power.

 

I wouldn't worry about trying to get a higher efficiency just decent PSU in general.

[Vitalius]

Well, we are trying to save money as well! I could go Platinum, but this isn't my money here We will definitely be getting higher capacity hard drives though. 

While I understand that, let us do math to discern if it is worth it or not.

Assuming your server pulls 50w at idle and 150w at full load (arbitrary numbers mostly), and that you pay $0.10 per KwH, you are paying $0.015 per hour that it is being pushed and $0.005 per hour that it is idle.

365 days a year, 24 hours a day, on all the time, I assume, for easy access, that is 8,760 hours. 

Idling the whole time, it would cost, at minimum, $43.80. Under load the whole time, it would cost $131.40. 

Obviously you would not have it under load the whole time, and assuming it is only under load for 20% of the time, you would likely pay about $60 per year for it to be running.

However, that is without the efficiency of the PSU taken into account, where it is 100% based on those calculations (impossible, but eh). 

At 95% efficiency, it would cost about $5 more. At 85% efficiency, about $15. 

So yeah, you are right I guess. Money-wise, it is not worth that $10 difference. However, I personally would still go with more efficient. Just my personal preference.

[EChondo]

I don't know where you live so I don't know the cost of power but the difference between gold and platinum in actual efficiency is +/- 3%. Even bronze to platinum the difference is +/- 10%.

 

So for this low of a power consumption (less than 150 watts) So at 50% load that efficiency difference becomes smaller and smaller 2% (g-p) 5% (b-p). So your really not much better off getting a $30 more PSU for 3% efficiency on such a small load unless you pay a lot for your power.

 

I wouldn't worry about trying to get a higher efficiency just decent PSU in general.

I figure a 360w Gold PSU would be fine, if I wanted platinum at the cheap, I could get a Antec 550w for almost a $100. So yeah it is an option, but that depends on how much I would be saving.

 

While I understand that, let us do math to discern if it is worth it or not.

Assuming your server pulls 50w at idle and 150w at full load (arbitrary numbers mostly), and that you pay $0.10 per KwH, you are paying $0.015 per hour that it is being pushed and $0.005 per hour that it is idle.

365 days a year, 24 hours a day, on all the time, I assume, for easy access, that is 8,760 hours. 

Idling the whole time, it would cost, at minimum, $43.80. Under load the whole time, it would cost $131.40. 

Obviously you would not have it under load the whole time, and assuming it is only under load for 20% of the time, you would likely pay about $60 per year for it to be running.

However, that is without the efficiency of the PSU taken into account, where it is 100% based on those calculations (impossible, but eh). 

At 95% efficiency, it would cost about $5 more. At 85% efficiency, about $15. 

So yeah, you are right I guess. Money-wise, it is not worth that $10 difference. However, I personally would still go with more efficient. Just my personal preference.

Thank you for doing the math :3

 

I would love to have a Platinum PSU for my personal rig, but if the money isn't there then my hands are tied!

 

It's my dad's money, so yeah, can't do anything there.

[quan289]

Here's an article about the difference in cost with efficiency: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/10/04/80_plus_irrelevant_to_you_when_buying_psu/2#.UivzGT-wV24

 

Another point, although not to a large degree, the higher capacity unit may lessen the difference in efficiency as well, that you may not necessarily saving as much as you have expect. Especially on a system that will be on idle most of the time.

[WoodenMarker]

I figure a 360w Gold PSU would be fine, if I wanted platinum at the cheap, I could get a Antec 550w for almost a $100. So yeah it is an option, but that depends on how much I would be saving.

Thank you for doing the math :3

I would love to have a Platinum PSU for my personal rig, but if the money isn't there then my hands are tied!

It's my dad's money, so yeah, can't do anything there.

You might as well get a cx430 or cx500 (whichever goes on sale)